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Trey Ellis

Trey Ellis

Posted: January 12, 2011 10:32 PM

Tonight in Tucson the president's strength, compassion and wisdom reminded us all of what we first saw in him, what can get lost in the day-to-day legislative sausage-making. More gray-haired and somber, he brilliantly and so presidentially rose above the clutter, the chatter. I keep thinking about his oft-repeated line, "our better angels," and today he inspired us all, on all sides, to really hear those words.

He preached tonight, a lay Christian minister. I can't but hope that the vast reasonable middle of the electorate, after his speech, is more with him than before. I would guess that tonight was the first time that they sat down and really listened to an entire speech of his in months. It was a helluva of a way to get reacquainted.

Sarah Palin's upload from her bunker this morning couldn't provide a starker example of the differences in the content of their characters.

For all her whining that it's actually her that has been wronged, for all Fox News' post-speech takeaway that the president's speech absolved them from any culpability in the dangerous turn in public political discourse, I can't help but hope that the deaths in Tucson will chasten them, just a little.

 
 
 

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parlimentMike
Terrorists keep you in fear
05:23 PM on 01/13/2011
The president will have come of age when the policies he fight's for match his rhetoric. He's always had the rap. Still waiting on the action...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
deschl
04:19 PM on 01/13/2011
I for one will take a page from Barack and Michelle Obama and not respond to the ignorance and hateful speech, when they say outrageous things they are looking for a response and when we do we have just made their day, there are a couple post here that I wanted to go at it with them but they are not worth my positive thoughts today, I need to be setting an example like that child Christina who died and all the other children who expect us to act like grownups...
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forsnow
03:57 PM on 01/13/2011
I thought the speech was excellent....just the right tone for the tragic occasion involved and the emotional state of the country.
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guveqzero
Inventor and Innovator
03:23 PM on 01/13/2011
I'm not looking for a minister. I am looking for someone to defend our way of life, the prosperity that should be ordained for our children. But, we have more in poverty, more without homes, more without a future, and more without hope. I don't see this as an Obama success or even a prelude to any real change. In fact, Obama prides himself on limiting change by endorsing compromise as a prelude to making agreements.
03:22 PM on 01/13/2011
" Congress Gone Wild "

They speak of Unity yet Division and
Divide seems the only Actions that's
on their minds, Disagreement and
Ridicule is the main words that exit
their mouths how many people know
what I'm talking about?

Congress, it's time you put in check the
Rude Undeserved Disrespect some of you
show to our President! He's truly a worthy
leader, plus his likability by the World, is high
on the Meter!

To those, in Congress who's earned our respect
you know who you are, thanks for being true to
your job!

Society as a whole is advised by those in power
to get along, yet although they make some of the
most important decisions for our lives, they simply
won't heed to any advice, even when they know
without a doubt, the other side is right!

How can Society ever get ahead with such a group
of knuckleheads? It's pass time grown women and
men stop the Bickering, unnecessary Partisanship
and Disagreeing simply, out of pure Meanness
What a poor example for our
youth

which like them you leave us all disappointed and
confused and asking the question what's the use?
the mere thought that our future is in your hands
is really hard to comprehend

So for the sake of Humanity, please remember, once
you're grown, you shouldn't act like a child or a bunch
of Clowns!

Because "We The People" could truly do without a
"Congress Gone Wild"

Poet: Tina Marie Clark
Copyright: 2011
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undertheinfluence
POW in my own home country
02:34 PM on 01/13/2011
" For all her whining that it's actually her that has been wronged, for all Fox News' post-speech takeaway that the president's speech absolved them from any culpability in the dangerous turn in public political discourse, I can't help but hope that the deaths in Tucson will chasten them, just a little."

I hope the deaths in Arz. teaches them that there are many more of us, lovers of the America, that is yet to come, than there are of them, who live in an America 'of days gone by.' The day has come, where hate and bigotry, has to be seen only in our rear view mirror.
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02:24 PM on 01/13/2011
... and now he has a doppelgänger http://bit.ly/frx7O0
02:09 PM on 01/13/2011
Meh. I’ll take Palin’s bunker speech over Obama’s pep rally.
02:31 PM on 01/13/2011
PEACE
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03:43 PM on 01/13/2011
That's unfortunate.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Phaedrah Ellison
Facts are stupid things - Ronald Reagan
02:06 PM on 01/13/2011
I was uplifted to hear the President speak of the victims and the heroes that emerged from the tragedy. I was comforted to feel the President and the nation mourning with me and I am inspired to soften my own acidic thoughts and words when discussing politics with people i disagree so strongly with. I dont think im the only one who felt this way... my sister who leans heavily republican at times, was effected in much the same way.
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quorthon
Big government IS the answer!
01:24 PM on 01/13/2011
Who, precisely, constitutes this "vast reasonable middle of the electorate"? Given that there is no truly influential Left in America, what does the "middle" stand for?
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mrsL
marriage & motherhood with mirth and grace
12:26 PM on 01/13/2011
I actually thought they both did a good job. Well done!
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Tom Iarossi
A proudly progressive veteran and educator
12:21 PM on 01/13/2011
I think the President's fine speech reflected who he has always been, not some sudden ascendance to the office. He inherited a huge mess and it will take more than two years to fix it.

But last night was an excellent example of why we were right to elect him.
11:32 AM on 01/13/2011
It was a speech written for him and delivered well. What this means is he is a very good orator when he is passionate about something, but we already knew that. But our country doesn't need good speeches, we need good policies.
11:53 AM on 01/13/2011
I heard on the media yesterday that President Obama spent much of the previous evening rewriting and tweaking his speech, as he is known to do. Many of those words....were his.
Anyone could see that he meant them. Just sayin'.
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undertheinfluence
POW in my own home country
03:11 PM on 01/13/2011
Just agreeing..F&F..#11
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db08
Embrace each moment, each day!
12:01 PM on 01/13/2011
Here are some of the policies and changes...copied with permission
-Increased fuel efficiency in cars, SUVs and trucks, trucks had been exempt
-Retrofitting buildings, tax breaks for reduced energy demand
-Health Insurance Reform
-Recovery Act
-Credit Card reform; bring transparency to derivative s market that
caused the financial crash
-Increase in minimum wage, first in 10 years
-Ban torture of captives
-End combat operations in Iraq
-Federal funding for medical research
-Student loans from government eliminatin g the middlemen who take
their chunk of the money from loans.
-More funding for Pell grants for education
-Recovery Act
-Formation of Consumer Finance Protection Bureau
-Small Business Assistance and tax credits
-Equal Pay for Women
-Wall St. reform
-Two women appointed to Supreme court
-SCHIP expansion
-Fully fund the Veterans Administra tion
-Restored critical protection s under the Endangered Species Act
-Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
-Repealed DADT
-New START treaty
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quorthon
Big government IS the answer!
01:20 PM on 01/13/2011
Nailed it!
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Shaun Hensley
The American Experiment has failed
03:03 PM on 01/13/2011
LMAO In other words, NOTHING.
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WilliamBradford
Veritas vos Liberabit
11:29 AM on 01/13/2011
Mr. Obama is back in his element. He is at his very best delivering well-scripted speeches before friendly audiences bound together by emotional circumstances, and saying things that he honestly believes.

Cynically viewed, he is also officially back in campaign mode. His tone over the next year will increasingly appeal to the reasonable center of the country. His purpose is, unfortunately, clear.
08:49 PM on 01/13/2011
Cynical indeed. How "unfortunate" for the country that an intellectual,centrist, humane and moral man is at the helm. And how rabidly ambitious of him to appeal to the center of the country he leads. What a sadly partisan perspective.
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WilliamBradford
Veritas vos Liberabit
11:40 AM on 01/14/2011
I that President Obama is most of the things you mention and have never implied otherwise. In many ways, he is not a "centrist" at heart, but many of his actions as President warrant that label. He is certainly a good man and only history will judge him as a President.

There is nothing "partisan" about recognizing that, as he launches his campaign for 2012, he is now tempering his words and going to do his best to seem very centrist in order to get back the voters in the middle who have begun to doubt him.
11:22 AM on 01/13/2011
Obama did OK. If brilliant, he would have started two years ago.
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nellpost
11:41 AM on 01/13/2011
I wonder what YOU are like.
04:19 PM on 01/13/2011
Thanks, but not interested.
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mrsL
marriage & motherhood with mirth and grace
04:09 PM on 01/13/2011
And if he wanted to be truly helpful, he would have said most of it Sunday instead of waiting for all of the finger pointing that has gone on this week.
08:51 PM on 01/13/2011
Great idea. At a time of national tragedy, the perfect thing for the President to do would have been to shoot rashly from the lip. Finger pointing against the professional right wing media does not require Presidential intervention. They're big boys and girls, and should be able to take at least as much as they dish out.